-
There has been a roughly twenty-fold rise in the number of people seeking transition, with teenagers hugely over-represented. Expand
There has been a roughly twenty-fold rise in the number of people seeking transition, with teenagers hugely over-represented.
A 2017 paper [1] reports that “the prevalence of a self-reported transgender identity in children, adolescents and adults ranges from 0.5 to 1.3%, markedly higher than prevalence rates based on clinic-referred samples of adults.”
This is reflected in data from gender clinics. The UK’s Gender Identity Development Service reported [2] a twenty-fold increase in referrals over the course of the last decade:
This surge was primarily driven by adolescents, with 15 being the most common age of referral:
Similarly, a Dutch gender identity clinic reported [3] a twenty-fold increase, albeit over a longer time span: from 34 in 1980 to 686 in 2015:
New Zealand [4], Finland [5] and Canada [6] have recorded similar dramatic exponential increases.
REFERENCES
[1] Zucker, K. J. (2017). Epidemiology of gender dysphoria and transgender identity. Sexual Health 14 (5): 404-411. [Link]
[2] Gender Identity Development Service (2021). Referrals to GIDS, financial years 2010-11 to 2020-21. [Link]
[3] Wiepjes, C.M., Nota, N.M., de Blok, C.J.M., Klaver, M., de Vries, A.L.C., Wensing-Kruger, S.A., de Jongh, R.T., Bouman, M.B., Steensma, T.D., Cohen-Kettenis, P., Gooren, L.J.G., Kreukels, B.P.C. & den Heijer, M. (2018). The Amsterdam Cohort of Gender Dysphoria Study (1972-2015): Trends in Prevalence, Treatment, and Regrets. Journal of Sexual Medicine 15 (4). [Link]
[4] Delahunt, J.W., Denison, H.J., Sim, D.A., Bullock, J.J. & Krebs, J.D. (2018). Increasing rates of people identifying as transgender presenting to Endocrine Services in the Wellington region. N Z Med J 131: 33-42. [Link]
[5] Kaltiala-Heino, R., Sumia, M., Työläjärvi, M. & Lindberg, N. (2015). Two years of gender identity service for minors: overrepresentation of natal girls with severe problems in adolescent development. Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health 9 (1). [Link]
[6] Aitken, M., Steensma, T.D., Blanchard, R., VanderLaan, D.P., Wood, H., Fuentes, A., Spegg, C., Wasserman, L., Ames, M., Fitzsimmons, C.L., Leef, J.H., Lishak, V., Reim, E., Takagi, A., Vinik, J., Wreford, J., Cohen-Kettenis, P.T., de Vries, A.L., Kreukels, B.P. & Zucker, K.J. (2015). Evidence for an altered sex ratio in clinic-referred adolescents with gender dysphoria. J Sex Med 12 (3): 756-63. [Link]
-
In 2018, one study noted that the estimated number of young people who identified as transgender ranged between 0.17% and 1.3%. Expand
In 2018, one study noted that the estimated number of young people who identified as transgender ranged between 0.17% and 1.3%.
A 2018 paper [1] presented the results of North American studies using short (one to three item) self-reports of gender identity and its variance. The studies suggested that 0.17%–1.3% of adolescents and young adults identified as transgender.
Statistics for the transgender population are almost impossible to quantify as different definitions are used to describe the term ”transgender”. We have chosen this study for its reliability and its reasonable understanding of the term “transgender” in the twenty-first century.
REFERENCES
[1] Kaltiala-Heino, R., Bergman, H., Työläjärvi, M., & Frisén, L. (2018). Gender dysphoria in adolescence: current perspectives. Adolescent health, medicine and therapeutics 9, 31–41. [Link]
-
The District of Columbia has three and a half times more people who identify as trans than any State in the US, per head of the population. Expand
The District of Columbia has three and a half times more people who identify as trans than any State in the US, per head of the population.
A Williams Institute survey [1] found that 2.77% of the population of DC identified as trans – more than three and a half times as many as Hawaii, which (at 0.78%) had the highest proportion of trans people of all fifty States.
REFERENCES
[1] Flores, A.R., Herman, J. L.; Gates, G. J. & Brown, T.N.T. (2016). How many people are lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender? Los Angeles, CA: The Williams Institute. [Link]
-
The profile of people seeking transition has shifted drastically, from overwhelmingly middle-aged males to predominantly adolescent females. Expand
The profile of people seeking transition has shifted drastically, from overwhelmingly middle-aged males to predominantly adolescent females.
A 2017 paper [1] notes that “in adolescents, there has been a recent inversion in the sex ratio from one favouring birth-assigned males to one favouring birth-assigned females.” By contrast, over 90% of transsexual adults in the 1960s were male [2].
In fact, there was hardly any scientific literature before 2012 on girls ages 11 to 21 ever having developed gender dysphoria at all. Yet of the young people described in Lisa Littman’s 2018 seminal paper on young people [3], 82.8% were female.
The data for the UK’s Gender Identity Development Service [4] show that 138 children were referred in 2011, and most of those children were boys. By 2021, however, a complete sex ratio reversal had occurred, and the clinic saw 2383 children that year, with almost 70% being female.
A 2017 article by Lisa Marchiano [5] collated data from different clinics around the world and found international evidence for this shift in distribution.
REFERENCES
[1] Zucker, K. J. (2017). Epidemiology of gender dysphoria and transgender identity. Sexual Health 14 (5): 404-411. [Link]
[2] Barrett, J. (2015). Written evidence submitted by British Association of Gender Identity Specialists to the Transgender Equality Inquiry. data.parliament.uk [Link]
[3] Littman, L. (2018). Rapid-onset gender dysphoria in adolescents and young adults: A study of parental reports. PLOS ONE, 13 (8). [Link]
[4] Gender Identity Development Service (2021). Referrals to GIDS, financial years 2010-11 to 2020-21. [Link]
[5] Marchiano, L. (2017). Outbreak: On Transgender Teens and Psychic Epidemics. Psychological Perspectives 60 (3): 345-366. [Link]
-
Between 2007 and 2017, the number of transgender youth clinics in the US went from 1 to at least 41 – and the number continues to increase. Expand
Between 2007 and 2017, the number of transgender youth clinics in the US went from 1 to at least 41 – and the number continues to increase.
A 2017 paper [1] notes that:
The first transgender youth clinic in the United States opened in Boston in 2007. Since then, 40 other clinics have opened that cater exclusively to children, with new clinic openings being announced frequently.
REFERENCES
[1] Marchiano, L. (2017). Outbreak: On Transgender Teens and Psychic Epidemics. Psychological Perspectives 60 (3): 345-366. [Link]
-
According to a long-range study, around 6% of children in the population are gender variant. Expand
According to a long-range study, around 6% of children in the population are gender variant.
Epidemiological study [1] based on data from 1983-2007 shows that 6% of children in the population are gender variant.
REFERENCES
[1] Steensma, T.D., van der Ende, J., Verhulst, F.C. & Cohen‐Kettenis, P.T. (2013). Gender Variance in Childhood and Sexual Orientation in Adulthood: A Prospective Study. J Sex Med 10 (11): 2723-2733. [Link]
-
60% of males and 70% of females attending the world’s largest gender clinic (GIDS) are same-sex attracted.
60% of males and 70% of females attending the world’s largest gender clinic (GIDS) are same-sex attracted.
In the 2015 statistics from GIDS, approximately 60% of the youth seen there who were biological males and 70% who were biological females reported attraction to the same sex or to both sexes. [1]
The 2015 Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS) statistics revealed a notably high rate of same-sex attraction among the youth seen at their clinic. Over half of the biological females reported same-sex attraction, about 20% were attracted to both sexes, and a quarter to the opposite sex, with the remaining identifying as asexual. Among biological males, approximately 30% reported same-sex attraction, another 30% to both sexes, 30% to the opposite sex, with the last 10% identifying as asexual or reporting no sexual attraction.
REFERENCES
Gender Identity Development Service. (2023). Gender identity and sexuality. [Link]